A grotesquely caricatured, thin and ragged Tom Paine, dressed as a tailor with huge scissors hanging from his pants, kneels before a gigantic crown; he uses a tape measure to determine its dimensions. He wears a French-style hat with a cockade inscribed "vive la liberty". He ruminates on his task,a satire on the first part of his Rights of man.
Alternative Title:
Tommy Paine, the little American taylor, taking the measure of the crown for a new pair of revolution breeches
Description:
At top of design: Humbly dedicated to the Jacobine clubs of France and England by Common Sense. "These are your gods, O, Israel!", Plate shows signs of reworking; 'the' following 'Tommy Paine' in title etched twice, with the repeated word on the second line of title scored through and mostly burnished from plate., Printmaker from British Museum catalogue., and Title etched below image.
Publisher:
H. Humphrey, New Bond Street
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Burke, Edmund,--1729-1797.--Reflections on the Revolution in France., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., Paine, Thomas,--1737-1809.--Rights of man., and Paine, Thomas,--1737-1809--Caricatures and cartoons.
"Britannia (left), a buxom young woman, clasps the trunk of a large oak, while Paine tugs with both hands at her stay-lace, placing a large foot on her posteriors. He wears blue and buff with a tricolour cockade on his bonnet rouge. From his coat pocket protrudes a pair of scissors and a tape inscribed: 'Rights of Man'. His face is blotched with drink and his expression is fiercely intent, but he is neatly dressed. Behind him is a thatched cottage inscribed: 'Thomas Pain, Stay-maker from Thetford. Paris Modes, by express.' Britannia looks over her shoulder at the stay-maker (cf. BMSat 9240) with an expression of pained reproach. Her shield leans against the tree; her spear is on the ground; across it lies an olive-branch."--British Museum online catalogue, description of an earlier state of the same composition.
Alternative Title:
Reform at the expence of constitution and Re-form at the expence of constitution
Description:
Plate first issued with title: Fashion before ease, or, A good constitution sacrificed for a fantastick form., Printmaker from British Museum catalogue., and Title etched below image.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., and Paine, Thomas,--1737-1809--Caricatures and cartoons.
"Six brutal-looking men, much caricatured, sit round a table in a cellar, listening with apprehensive intentness to their chairman, who reads a paper: 'State Arrests - O'Conner Binns Evans Quigley'. He sits in an arm-chair, a grotesque ragged creature with sleeves rolled up; in his right hand is a candle taken from a candle-stick on the table. Beside him is a tankard inscribed: 'Tom Treason Hell-Fire Celler Chick Lane'. Against his chair leans an open book: 'Proceedings of the London Corresponding Society Ts Firebrand Secretary - Delegates - Forging Sam Barber Joe Dick Butcher Dissenting Nick Sheepshead Will Cut down Lary'. These names belong to the persons depicted: a barber sits on an upturned tub on the chairman's left, a comb in his ragged hair, a pair of tongs leaning against the tattered hat which lies beside him. Next (left) is a butcher, his steel hanging from his waist. All are grotesque denizens of the underworld. Two prints are on the brick wall, bust portraits of 'Horne Tooke' and 'Tom Payne'. Through an open door (right) is seen a flight of stairs, steeply ascending."--British Museum online catalogue.
Alternative Title:
London Corresponding Society alarmed
Description:
Title etched below image.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., London Corresponding Society., Paine, Thomas,--1737-1809--Caricatures and cartoons., and Tooke, John Horne,--1736-1812--Caricatures and cartoons.
"Another version, reversed, of BMSat 8132. Paine (right) lies as before, but his legs and feet, which were hidden by straw and by cloud, project from under his coat, and the crisping of his toes indicates agitation caused by his dream. The three headless judges (left) with dependent scrolls are as before, with the addition of a cloud-shaped scroll ascending from the central wig, inscribed: 'Know Villain, when such paltry slaves presume To mix in Treason, if the Plot succeeds They're thrown neglected by - but if it fails Theyre sure to die like dogs! as you shall do.' In place of the prison wall is a glory of rays issuing from a sun in the centre of which are the scales of Justice. This is surmounted by shackles and by a scroll inscribed "The Scourge inexorable, and the tort'ring hour, awaits thee". Beneath are, as before, a gibbet (with the addition of a ladder) and a pillory. Between them are a scourge and birch-rod tied together. The inscriptions on the three scrolls are as before except that in 'Charges' 'Falshoods' takes the place of 'Lies', and to 'Punishments' is added 'Extinction from Society'. The inscriptions on Paine's book, &c, are as before except that the alternative title of 'Common Sense is or convincing Reasons for Britons turning Sans Culottes.' The fleurs-de-lis on the tattered curtain are larger and more conspicuous. Above the bed, in place of the crumbling wall, is an open casement window out of which flies a terrified demon with his tail between his legs; he holds a fiddle, but drops his bow and a sheet of music inscribed 'Ca-ira'. Through the window appear clouds and a full moon."--British Museum online catalogue.
Description:
Reversed version, with some different and some additional elements in the image, of a print with the same title published in November 1792. Cf. No. 8132 in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires, v. 6. and Title etched below image.
Subject (Name):
Auchincloss, Hugh Dudley--Ownership., Fox, Charles James,--1749-1806--Caricatures and cartoons., Harvey, Francis--Ownership., Humphrey, Hannah, active 1774-1817, publisher., Paine, Thomas,--1737-1809--Caricatures and cartoons., and Priestley, Joseph,--1733-1804--Caricatures and cartoons.
